A theorist, organist, and conductor, Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004), and did graduate work in Musicology. He serves as choirmaster for the new FSSP parish in Los Angeles, where he resides with his wife and children.

St Ambrose had to be “corrected” by Pope Urban VIII. The ‘Iste confessor’ was greatly altered and the hymn for the Dedication of a Church—which no one ought to have touched—was in fact completely recast in a new meter. Singular demand, made by the taste of that particular epoch!
— Re: The hymn revisions of Pope Urban VIII (d. 1644)

HE ENGLISH LANGUAGE is pronounced differently in the various English-speaking countries: Ireland, South Africa, Singapore, New Zealand, and so forth. I have been receiving emails from my friends in England. They are unhappy with the way I set the word CATHOLIC.

I was taught by professors of Choral Methods a dictum similar to Franz Xavier Haberl’s famous one: Sing as you speak.

For example, when you sing ANGEL, don’t sing “ain-JELL.” Sing it how you say it: “AIN-juhll.”

To my ear, words like EVERY are only two syllables ( EV- 'RY ) not three. The same holds true for “Catholic,” as you can see here:

WHILE WE’RE ON THISSUBJECT, certain words in English cause problems when they come at the end of a Psalm tone because they have an accented syllable followed by three (or even four!) unaccented syllables. Here are some examples:

TABERNACLE

IMPERISHABLE

PERSECUTORS

TESTIMONIES

SANCTUARY

COVETOUSNESS

FIGURATIVELY

YOURFLOCKSETTLED IN IT

WONDERFULLY

PERSECUTING

SACRIFICES

CIRCUMSTANCES

If you have a word like GLORIOUSLY you can “cheat” by making it three syllables instead of four. The same can be done with HEAVEN — it can be two syllables or one.

ADDENDUM:

I heard a professional group sing “See – lebrity” for Celebrity. Frightful!

I heard a professional singers sing “Cruella Dee – vill” for Cruella de Vil. Terrible!

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